I can't believe I have almost been here for an entire week! I enjoyed hearing the various reports of the "drop-off," and I assume you are all wondering what happened next. I picked up my supplies (most importantly my name tag!), dropped off my luggage, and then I was escorted to "Mongolia" aka the classroom. As soon as I walked into the door, I was bombarded with Mongolian words. I had no idea what the teachers were saying to me, and I'm sure the look on my face was priceless.
There are six of us in the Monglian district: Elder Hayter, Elder Standley, Elder Huckvale, Elder Clements, Sister Ackley, and me. Elder Huckvale and I are from Idaho, and the other four are from Utah. We study hard, but we also have a lot of fun! Our zone includes missionaries headed to Figi, and Indonesia. They are humorous, but Sister Ackley and I have come to the conclusion we can't believe a thing they say. It often seems like they don't follow the rules. Luckily, I received great advice from multiple people about what to do in these situations; I just never assumed I would need to heed their counsel so soon. We often have questions, and it is frustrating that no one can give us good answers. Sister Ackley and I do our best to follow the rules, despite the influence of our zone. We decided that being obedient is extremely important in our situation, because we need all the Mongolian help we can get!
Mongolian is hard, but I am amazed at what I have already learned in six short days. I can ask basic introduction questions such as, "What is your name," etc. I can also say a brief/basic prayer, and bear a simple testimony. I am excited that I know that much, but when it comes to teaching lessons, I know nothing! Our current investigator's name is Casha. Our first lesson was on Friday, and it was awful! We were done in about 5 minutes, and we had no idea what we said, or what Casha said. Our second lesson was yesterday, and Sister Ackley and I felt really good about it. We still didn't have a lot to say (we read our lesson straight from our notes), but we were able to pray without notes, and we sang to him in Mongolian. We have been practicing "I Need Thee Every Hour," and we felt like that was a great way we could share our testimony without using words. That was a really neat experience. Our teachers are Brother Jolley and Brother Margetts. They are both really great; however, the Elders in our zone often distract them with questions about Mongolian culture etc. That is also frustrating to me because we obviously need to speak Mongolian before we experience the culture--teach me some words people!!
Wednesday evening, after a few orientation meetings and dinner, we had a group teaching experience. We were split into groups of 30-50 missionaries and we met with various investigators. During the first lesson, I felt the desire to share, but brushed it aside. During the second lesson, Sister Ackley and I were sitting on the front row, and the investigator called on me because I supposedly raised my hand. (I am 100% positive I never raised my hand!) Anyways, I got really nervous, but it ended up going well. I taught him that we can all be like Joseph Smith. When we have a question or we desire to "know" something, we can pray in faith and receive an answer. Most likely, we won't see a vision; however, Heavenly Father does hear our prayers and he answers them. I know that this is true!
All in all, I have enjoyed being in the MTC. The food is already boring, but I am surviving. Sister Ackley and I share a room with three Sisters going to the Florida Tampa mission. It seems like we will be getting a lot of new roommates during the next eight weeks. This morning we went to the Provo temple with most of our zone. I love being inside the temple! My district teases me about the massive amounts of letters that I receive each day, but it is good to feel loved.
Love,
Sister Magleby
P.S. I wasn't able to figure out how to do pictures. I will ask around, and hopefully send some next week.
There are six of us in the Monglian district: Elder Hayter, Elder Standley, Elder Huckvale, Elder Clements, Sister Ackley, and me. Elder Huckvale and I are from Idaho, and the other four are from Utah. We study hard, but we also have a lot of fun! Our zone includes missionaries headed to Figi, and Indonesia. They are humorous, but Sister Ackley and I have come to the conclusion we can't believe a thing they say. It often seems like they don't follow the rules. Luckily, I received great advice from multiple people about what to do in these situations; I just never assumed I would need to heed their counsel so soon. We often have questions, and it is frustrating that no one can give us good answers. Sister Ackley and I do our best to follow the rules, despite the influence of our zone. We decided that being obedient is extremely important in our situation, because we need all the Mongolian help we can get!
Mongolian is hard, but I am amazed at what I have already learned in six short days. I can ask basic introduction questions such as, "What is your name," etc. I can also say a brief/basic prayer, and bear a simple testimony. I am excited that I know that much, but when it comes to teaching lessons, I know nothing! Our current investigator's name is Casha. Our first lesson was on Friday, and it was awful! We were done in about 5 minutes, and we had no idea what we said, or what Casha said. Our second lesson was yesterday, and Sister Ackley and I felt really good about it. We still didn't have a lot to say (we read our lesson straight from our notes), but we were able to pray without notes, and we sang to him in Mongolian. We have been practicing "I Need Thee Every Hour," and we felt like that was a great way we could share our testimony without using words. That was a really neat experience. Our teachers are Brother Jolley and Brother Margetts. They are both really great; however, the Elders in our zone often distract them with questions about Mongolian culture etc. That is also frustrating to me because we obviously need to speak Mongolian before we experience the culture--teach me some words people!!
Wednesday evening, after a few orientation meetings and dinner, we had a group teaching experience. We were split into groups of 30-50 missionaries and we met with various investigators. During the first lesson, I felt the desire to share, but brushed it aside. During the second lesson, Sister Ackley and I were sitting on the front row, and the investigator called on me because I supposedly raised my hand. (I am 100% positive I never raised my hand!) Anyways, I got really nervous, but it ended up going well. I taught him that we can all be like Joseph Smith. When we have a question or we desire to "know" something, we can pray in faith and receive an answer. Most likely, we won't see a vision; however, Heavenly Father does hear our prayers and he answers them. I know that this is true!
All in all, I have enjoyed being in the MTC. The food is already boring, but I am surviving. Sister Ackley and I share a room with three Sisters going to the Florida Tampa mission. It seems like we will be getting a lot of new roommates during the next eight weeks. This morning we went to the Provo temple with most of our zone. I love being inside the temple! My district teases me about the massive amounts of letters that I receive each day, but it is good to feel loved.
Love,
Sister Magleby
P.S. I wasn't able to figure out how to do pictures. I will ask around, and hopefully send some next week.
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